As is known in the art, pressure contacting electrical terminals are used to form a conductive circuit between two electrical devices by pressure engagement therebetween, such as establishing a connection between a mobile phone and an antenna. During assembly, one end of the terminal first is pressure engaged with a first electrical device, and an opposite end of the terminal then is pressure engaged with the second electrical device, thereby establishing an electrical connection between the two electrical devices.
For instance, FIG. 1 shows a prior art electrical terminal, generally designated 10, of the character described above. The terminal includes a sleeve or housing 12 having an inner conductive liner 14 forming a through hole 16 through the housing. The through hole has opposite open ends 18. A pair of contact members 20 have outer pressure contacting end portions 20a and enlarged inner end portions 20b. The inner end portions are reciprocally mounted within through hole 16, while outer end portions 20a project through openings 18 and outwardly of the housing. A coil spring 22 is disposed within through hole 16 and has opposite ends in engagement with the enlarged inner end portions 20b of contact members 20 to bias the contact members in opposite directions. It can be seen that the outer pressure contacting end portions 28a of contact members 20 have identical lengths, as indicated by double-headed arrows 24. In other words, the outer end portions of the contact members project from opposite ends of housing 12 the same distances.
It has been found that in some applications, the restricted or narrow distance between the two electrical devices which are to be electrically connected by terminal 10 makes it difficult to assemble terminal 10 between the electrical devices, because of the equal distances which contact members 20 project from opposite ends of housing 12. In other words, the total distance between the distal ends of outer end portions 20a of the contact members is excessive in comparison to the distance between the two, spaced electrical devices, and this makes it difficult to assemble the terminal between the devices. The present invention is directed to solving these problems and providing improvements in pressure-contacting electrical terminals of the character described.